2014 01 31 paw section1

Cover Story heart.�

Though Lehman leads the weekly sessions to a variety of their joint practice, Rainbow seniors with varying degrees of Music Therapy (www.rainbowmental agility and sharpness, he musictherapy.com), at the end of is most excited about the prosthis month. pect of studying how music can In his work, Hardy sees a wide help those with dementia and range of students with all types Alzheimer’s disease. He lost his of abilities. mother, an aunt and two cousins Some of his students are nonto the disease and notes that deverbal, so he uses devices like an mentia rates are expected to rise iPad or speech recorder to help a significantly as Baby Boomers student learn how to communiage. cate what they would like to do.

He says his work is informed For students who have impulby the neurological research of sive behaviors he will introduce music on the brain and memory drumming and percussive instrufrom neuroscientists Oliver Sacks ments to keep them focused on a and Daniel Levitin. beat. Oftentimes Hardy says his “I read in Levitin’s book ‘This students have perfect pitch or Is Your Brain On Music’ that rhythm but struggle with making what you hear as a teenager, bemistakes as they try to play the cause of hormones and emotional music that is playing perfectly in development and brain acceleratheir head. tion, you never forget,� he said. “Music within itself creates “Even though you may think a nonthreatening environment you forgot it and you don’t hear where people are able to sort of the music for 50, 60, 70 years ... relax and feel safe and comfort- John Lehman, executive director of Senior New Ways and leader of the group’s Vintage Music Therapy who you were necking with in the able in this idea of creating music Program, dances and sings with BridgePoint at Los Altos resident Sylvia Brown in January. backseat, when you went to prom, together and be themselves in that all that stuff, the emotion of it, the space. And then from there, as a smells, the sound, everything is therapist, I can meet a child on captured and it’s really cemented the same level through music and in there.� from there we can grow together,�

In the spring Lehman says he he said. will begin working with researchDoi has seen it firsthand in her ers from the Alzheimer Disease classroom. One of her students Research Center at USC to conhas learned how to clap on her duct research on how the program own by participating in Hardy’s may affect the cognition levels of weekly sessions. Doi says that the Alzheimer’s patients by adminismusic frees and empowers her tering a series of regular memory kids to express themselves. tests within a control group. “There’s something about the “It is tremendously important rhythm of the music that’s very to identify modifiable factors soothing for our students, it’s very that might contribute to healthy freeing. They all really respond to cognition in old age. Music is music in lots of different ways,� particularly promising because it she said. “It gives them a very inengages cognition, emotion, phystimate experience with music and ical movement and social engagegives them a lot of opportunities ment,� stated Dr. Margaret Gatz, to show their joy.� professor of psychology, gerontolParent Lisa Zuegel agrees. She ogy and preventative medicine at is able to better communicate USC who will be overseeing the with her son Jeffrey, 14, through research with doctoral student Jeffrey’s love of songs and music.

Alison Balbag.

Jeffrey was diagnosed with lowMarguerite Manteau-Rao, a limuscle-tone cerebral palsy and censed clinical social worker with displays some behaviors akin to a private psychotherapy practice autism. in Palo Alto and clinical director “Jeffrey makes up songs all of the Lakeside Park specialized the time. ... It’s a good way for us Lehman dances with Betty Swinyard, center, as Elizabeth Center (from left of center), Anita Steinacher elder-care facility in Oakland, to connect with him,� she said. and Pauline La Brie and fellow residents at BridgePoint at Los Altos listen to an hour program of music agrees about the profound effects “He’s telling us a story through from the 1920s through the ‘50s. that music and music-centered the song.� activities can have on the mind of someone with dementia or Aln a recent Friday at BridgePoint at Los Altos, a se- seconds. ... After an hour I was just blown away,� he said. zheimer’s. Music tied to one’s memory can help an unnior community, musicologist Lehman breaks out After being awarded a grant by the Los Altos Commu- responsive person “come to life� or immediately calm a in a big grin as he takes 94-year-old Edy Lynch’s nity Foundation funded by the David and Lucile Packard person experiencing a hallucination onset by the disease, arms. The two begin to swing to the lively beat of Glenn Foundation, Lehman launched the program through Senior she said.

Miller’s “Imagination� from 1944. When Fred Astaire’s New Ways last April. He leads seniors ages 70-98 on an “It can be pretty dramatic, and it’s really like medicine “Isn’t This a Lovely Day� from 1935 plays, resident Janine hour-long “reminiscing session� using a portable speaker for people with dementia — and it’s not just the music itself Breitbart sings every word. And during 1947’s “Managua, and iPod filled with more than 40,000 songs from the but all the music-related activities that are spurred by a Nicaragua� by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, 1920’s through early 50s. shared music experience such as reminiscing, and singing, Fran Nuelle dances in her chair and sways her head. dancing, all of that,� she said.

The music and dancing form Lehman’s year-long exLehman also considers music as medicine in a way. ploratory “Vintage Music Therapy Program,� which he “This is like going to RiteAid and getting a prescrip‘Music touches on a lot of different leads twice a week at the center, as well as at SarahCare tion: It might not take effect overnight, but it’s going to of Campbell adult day care center and the Alzheimer’s places in people’s brains and their lives.’ take effect.�

Activity Center in San Jose. Lehman, executive director of After her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Man—Beth Hardy, a music therapist teau-Rao realized she was still able to share experiences the nonprofit Senior New Ways based in Palo Alto and an avid private music collector, began to test out the program and memories with her mom over the phone when all other after witnessing how seniors immediately responded to forms of communication had been lost, by singing French hearing music of their youth at a Christmas program at the BridgePoint resident Janine Breitbart has a special fond- drinking songs together — some of her mother’s favorite Los Altos United Methodist Church. ness for hearing the music of the Big Band Era. songs during her youth. “I chose Christmas songs that haven’t been played on the “My brother just loved the Big Band Era. It was always Last year she created a personalized music program for radio in over 60 years, and this group of 80-year-olds could just a continuum in my soul and in my being,â€? she said. residents at the Lakeside Park community and has recently identify the song and the performer’s names in less than 8 “Listening to it is just a continuation of what’s been in my developed Carenga; an app for the iPad that primarily gives ­VÂœÂ˜ĂŒÂˆÂ˜Ă•i`ĂŠvĂ€ÂœÂ“ĂŠÂŤĂ€iĂ›ÂˆÂœĂ•ĂƒĂŠÂŤ>}iÂŽ

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